FBI Neglect of San Bernardino Crime Scene Fits a Pattern

The shocking sight of journalists storming into the apartment of the San Bernardino terrorists, less than 48 hours after the attack, was apparently allowed by the FBI, which handed the apartment back over to the landlord, who let the media in with a crowbar.

CNN had a reporter on the scene, but its own analyst Harry Houck was shocked, calling it a “screw-up.”

While the journalists’ behavior was disturbing, it fit a pattern: the Obama administration is careless about, or is reluctant to find, evidence of terrorism.

For example, the government has done almost nothing with the treasure trove of intelligence information it recovered during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011. Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard has waged a lonely battle to force the government to take the intelligence seriously–intelligence that could disrupt terror networks and prevent future attacks around the world. “They haven’t done anything close to a full exploitation,” perhaps only 10%, he quoted one analyst in May 2015.

The following year, after the Benghazi terror attack–which the Obama administration insisted was a protest over a YouTube video–the FBI arrived on the scene several weeks later, after terrorists and curious locals had enjoyed the opportunity to roam the scene and remove or change whatever they wanted. Fox News reported on Oct. 5, 2012 that an FBI team had waited for weeks before visiting the consulate, and that they stayed only briefly. (To this day, Democrats insist a video explanation was plausible.)

Now, the FBI has released a crime scene to the landlord, to the media, and even to a local dog, according to CNN. It is certainly possible that investigators were able to obtain and remove all of the evidence they needed. But how can they know they will not need to return? How do they prevent evidence from being tainted, moved, lost–or possibly even being planted? Now, they cannot.

Houck puts the FBI’s behavior down to incompetence. Perhaps the truth is that the government is just not interested.